CANDY CANE CONTROVERSY ENDS

Catalyst May Issue 2003

In the last issue of Catalyst, we reported on the disciplining of six students from Westfield High School in western Massachusetts. Their offense? Distributing candy canes with a religious message on them at Christmastime. For this alleged infraction of separation of church and state they were suspended.

Kudos to the students who sued the school, and to the Bush administration for filing a friend-of-the-court suit. They won. A federal court in Massachusetts has ruled that the students had their free speech rights violated when school administrators sought to punish them for their expression.

While this satisfies the Catholic League, it would have been an even better outcome had intolerant, pro-gag rule school administrators been fired for harassing the students.